Greenpeace says the company needs to do far more to tackle its growing use of single-use plastic bottles.

By Bethan Staton, News Reporter

19:10, UK,Friday19January2018

Image:Coca-Cola aims to have an average of 50% recycled material in all its bottles by 2030

Environmental campaigners have criticised Coca-Cola's anti-waste vision, saying it fails to address the urgency of the plastic pollution problem.

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In a long-awaited announcement, the soft drinks giant has announced it is "fundamentally reshaping its approach to packaging".

The plan includes a global goal to help collect and recycle the equivalent of 100% of its packaging, and to make bottles with an average of 50% recycled content by 2030.

But Greenpeace accused the firm of "dodging the main issue" with a plan that "failed to include any reduction of the company's rapidly increasing use of single-use plastic bottles".

The campaign group says the number of single-use plastic bottles used by Coca-Cola has increased by nearly a third since 2008.

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“The massive increase in plastic waste in our oceans, and increasingly in our food chain, is a result of our dependency on throwaway items like single-use plastic bottles," said Tisha Brown, oceans campaigner for Greenpeace UK.

“Support for recycling is important but it won’t solve the ocean plastic problem.

“A litter-free world is possible – but only if big companies like Coke stop producing ever growing quantities of plastic litter. They need to reduce and reuse as well as recycle.”

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Coca-Cola says that by 2030 it aims to "help" reclaim one bottle or can for every one sold, an aspiration it will work towards by "investing its marketing dollars and skills" to "help people understand what, how and where to recycle".

It also says it is "continuing to work toward making all of its packaging 100% recyclable" and making bottles with an average of 50% recycled content globally, by 2030.

The company's aims are more ambitious in some areas: 50% recycled content by 2020 in the UK, and by 2025 across Europe.

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"The world has a packaging problem – and, like all companies, we have a responsibility to help solve it," said James Quincey, Coca-Cola's CEO.